Friends 'Till the End
by Afrolady114
Summary: 4 friends vow to stay together no matter what happens. They soon find out they posses "powers" far greater than any comic book superhero. Tabuu wants them dead. The SSBB cast wants them alive. Who will be the victor in the Subspace Wars? Rated T for now.
1. Prologue

_Friends 'Till the End_

_By: Afrolady114_

**Prologue**

One boy and three girls were screeching and giggling uncontrollably, as five-year olds tend to do. They ran around in their swimsuits and sprayed each other with bright, yellow-and-green toys called super soaker 50's. The four kids were having a grand ol' time in the "whale-sized" yard that belonged to Rose's family: The tallest kid in the group. She had short, strawberry blonde hair that was tangled like vines in a grape vineyard. Rose had a special condition called heterochromia, that is, her eyes were different colors. Her left eye was gray and her right eye was green. She wore a blue, floral patterned, one-piece bathing suit. In both of her hands she waved a stick with a red cloth tied to the top of it. Running behind her in a pale green, two-piece bathing suit was a shorter girl named, Anna. She had wavy, red hair that fell a little past her chin. Her eyes were blue as sky and her freckles on her cheeks stood out on her slightyly burnt skin. She sprayed Rose in the back of her head with her yellow-and-green super soaker. The only boy in the group was named, Kale. He was roughly the same height as Anna. He had super short, spiky, dark brown hair. His spikes were a bit sloppy from being sprayed by water. He had blue eyes that matched his cerulean blue trunks. He soaked Anna's legs with her brightly colored super soaker. She started to jump franticly from sensation of icy-cold water dancing on her skin. Finally, spraying Kale was Kris. She was the same height as Rose. Her green eyes matched her green, one-piece bathing suit. She had her light brown hair pulled up in a wet pony tail that flopped across her back with each step she took. The four played in the summer heat as if it were their last day alive. After twenty-minutes of running around and spraying each other with water, the four kids fell onto the cool, green grass.

"That was fun!" Rose spoke to no one in particular as she panted heavily. The stick with the red flag lay a few feet away from her hands. The other three kids encircled Rose's head with their own.

"Yeah, I wish we could do this every day!" Anna giggled as Kris poked her stomach.

"Even when we get older?" Kale questioned to everyone as he fiddled with a piece of grass.

"Even when we get older." Kris shouted to the sky above. The other kids joined in with Kris' screaming. Once the moment of happiness passed, the four fell silent for a while. They all were preoccupied by the clouds passing overhead. After a few minutes of guessing what animals the clouds were, Rose suddenly stood up and faced the other three kids. "We all make a promise right now!" She held out her right hand in a fist. "We'll stick together from now on, no matter what happens!" Her eyes burned in determination as she glared at the others. Anna, Kale, and Kris stumbled to get up onto their feet. They added their fists to Rose's. "Together forever!" Rose screamed as she punched the sky.

"Together forever!" The other three kids repeated.

"Friends 'till the end!" Rose's voice cracked.

"Friends 'till the end!" The other three chanted.

The group of kids continued to chant, "Friends 'till the end," until their parents called them into Rose's home for dinner. The kids forgot about the chanting and raced each other to see who could be the first one to the table. Four kids: All the same, yet unique in subtle ways. Their journey into the wild and spontaneous ways of life started to unravel.

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><p><em>Seventeen years later…<em>

_December 21, __2012. Area 51. 10:35pm Pacific Standard Time. _

Monitors and energy readings inside the secluded walls of Area 51 were on at full power, and they emitted a cacophony of beeps, whirls, and chirps. The machines were tracking a meteor that had entered Earth's atmosphere. What was unusual about this meteor were the energy levels this—_thing_ had. This object was definitely not an ordinary hunk of space junk. This riled up every scientist and every government agent in Area 51. Anything out of the ordinary was considered to be a security threat to the members of Area 51. One agent in a black suit with tinted sunglasses stood cross-armed in the room filled with the screaming machines. He had been tracking this object since the machines picked up its energy signature thousands of miles in space. He eyed a sixty-inch monitor that mapped the object's projected landing. The volatile mass would land thirty-five miles southwest of Area 51. The agent continued to track the objects decent on the screen. The screen showed a pulsating, yellow circle descending on a dashed, yellow path towards Earth's surface. The yellow dot on the screen came closer and closer to the surface. The excitement was like watching paint dry in a room filled with water. The man frowned as the yellow light impacted the Earth. He brought his wrist up to his mouth and spoke.

"The birdie has landed. I repeat: The birdie has landed. Scramble _everyone_."

-0-0-0-0-

Twenty-six, black SUV's roared across the Yucca Flat region in Nevada. They were traveling to see what the mysterious meteorite really is. The closer and closer the vehicles drew to the crater, more and more electronics within their hulking frames begun to fail. Sadly, that was not the only phenomenon in the area. Once the vehicles were about five miles away from the crater, the ground became infected with _living_ veins that glowed myriad shades of navy blues, of royal purples, and of crimson reds. As the unsuspecting humans quickly found out, the veins originated from the celestial object. Warily, all the humans parked their vehicles, and shuffled towards the edge of the smoldering hole in the desert floor. All the agents held their pistols close to their chests as they stood on the ledge of the crater, unsure of what its contents were. When the timid agents peered inside the crater their eyes were fixated on a sparkling, rainbow colored sphere with an off centered, sideways cross chiseled into it. The agent that witnessed the crash slid down the crater to take a closer look at the object. As he neared the marked sphere the faint glow became brighter. Once he reached the object he had to shield his eyes from the light. Without looking at the sphere tapped it with the muzzle of his pistol. A hollow _clink _rang through the night air. Nothing happened. The agent released his breath and ordered his colleagues to prep the sphere for transportation. Or so he thought.

The sphere suddenly bolted up into the air and blinded all the humans with the entire spectrum of light. Something was emerging from the spherical casing. Two translucent wings that looked like tribal butterfly wings, folded outward from the sphere into the night sky. They shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow. On the multi-colored wings were etchings that resembled what one could find on a computer chip. Next, a torso with two arms and two legs were mapped out from the center of the crossed sphere by a mass of tinted, luminous, electric blue wires. The wires snapped and bounded together like a frenzied school of piranhas. In a matter of seconds the wires formed the figure of a muscular male. The head of the entity slowly built itself up from the neck on up with the same wires. The face of the space being was a perfect match to the agent that had tapped his rainbow colored prison. All the humans stared in awe at the massive, twelve-foot tall, winged wireframe being. The glowing orb crept up inside the being's body until it locked itself in place (where the human heart would be located) with an earsplitting _hiss_. The luminous humanoid folded its arms across its chest and floated above the crater, scowling at the nervous humans in black suits.

The agent inside of the crater cleared his voice and shouted up to the giant winged freak. "You are inside a restricted area! Come down with your hands above your head or we will use deadly force upon you if you do not cooperate with us!" He shakily aimed his pistol at the creature's head. The forty agents surrounding the crater did the same. The entity folded his strangely patterned wings across his body, cocooning himself in a rainbow of wires. The humans held their poses, sweat trickling down their brows. Suddenly, the air around them grew cold. The ground beneath their feet began to tremble. The winged creature's "heart" began to shine brighter than a star. The humans began to fire recklessly at the wireframe creature. Their bullets flew harmlessly through the entity. The humans started to panic and flee into their vehicles.

"_I am_," the creature snapped its wings back out,_ "Tabuu_." Three, fire orange shockwaves of energy ripped through the ground at the speed of sound. The humans never stood a chance. The waves of energy disintegrated all the humans, all the vehicles, and Area 51. The shockwaves rippled out of existence once they spent all of their energy. Tabuu gazed at the blackened terrain surrounding him with a smirk on his face. Oh, how he _loved_ this feeling of ecstasy whenever he killed something. The burnt soil slowly became infected with the pulsating veins of blues, reds, and purples. "Subspace" as it was called, was Tabuu's domain to rule. He levitated towards the remains of the most secretive facility in the United States, and found that two computers still functioned. The computers were connected to three satellites. Tabuu smiled even more. He called forth the subspace terrain to surround him in a sphere of darkness. Once the sphere was complete, he dove straight into the computers and traveled up to the satellites via radio waves. A few seconds later, Tabuu was inside one of the American satellite named, _Aurora_. Using his own powers to amplify the power of _Aurora_, he redirected the satellite into the depths of space and broadcasted a cryptic message to an ancient civilization he once terrorized.

"_Hear my voice once more people of Za'taji. I am _free_. I am living despite your feeble efforts to kill me. If you wish to continue to live your insignificant lives, you shall draw all members of your race into a grand army for my bidding. I shall use your army to conquer the planet I have been released upon—Earth. The coordinates are being sent to you as I speak. Make haste with your preparations, lest you wish history to repeat itself. I, Tabuu, shall rule the universe soon. Do not disappoint me people of Za'taji."_ Tabuu remained inside the _Aurora_. The satellite had already been infected with the beating veins of darkness. Tabuu felt a little cramped inside of the _Aurora,_ but anything was better than the container he was previously sealed inside of. He had been a part of that container for so long, it became a part of him. He shuddered at that thought and pushed that fact deep within the corner of his mind.

As Tabuu settled down inside of his new "home", he began to sense a great energy called, Potential Power. Potential Power was the name of an energy source that lit a deceased galaxy's sun. The power of dead galaxy's sun was so great, that its energy had to have been vented off into space. Once in space, the energy sought out a new host to live inside. Most of the flares were absorbed inside of planets, or stars, but only a handful were absorbed inside living beings. These beings were called flares of life. Their title came from the name of the powerful star. These flares of life were beings that possessed powers of great strength and if gone unchecked, these fighters could potentially _defeat_ Tabuu. He writhed inside his shell when he realized there were not one, but _four_ users on this planet. Four users on one planet is just plain ridiculous. He used the _Aurora_ to pinpoint the locations of the four flares of life. Once he located their positions he broadcasted another message to the Za'taji.

"_People of Za'taji, there are four beings of special importance dwelling on this planet. I am sending you their energy signatures. Find them and destroy them. Do _not_ fail me."_

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><p>AN: Boom. Cheesy prologue is cheesy prologue :3

Chapter 1 will be up soon.

ALSO: **Super Smash Bros. (or any of the characters in any of the games) DO NOT BELONG TO ME. They belong to their respective owners. **Please, don't sue me. Okay? Thanks!


	2. Chapter 1: Happy New Year

***DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything about or related to SSBB except for the OC's mentioned. Thanks, and don't sue me.***

_Friends 'Till the End_

Chapter 1

"Happy New Year"

_December 31, 2012: New Year's Eve. _

"Armageddon" did not come on the twenty-first, but every soul on the planet was tense with apprehension. The five-year olds have grown into twenty-two year olds. They all are on winter break from Michigan State University, and just like every New Year before today; they spent it in each other's company. Of course, this time a few more friends have joined their squad of four. James, one of Kale's friends from grade school is a tall, lanky, blonde haired man with blue eyes. He wore a bland, red windbreaker with grey sweatpants. Jessica, a girl Rose became friends with when Jessica joined their high school's marching band as a freshman in Rose's senior year. She had shoulder length, dirty blonde hair, and a pair of purple rimmed glasses that sat in front of her dark brown eyes. She wore a gray sweatshirt from her freshman year of marching band and blue jeans. Kayla, Kris' younger sister –two years to be exact- was present at the party as well. She was another longhaired blonde with blue eyes. She wore a fashionable, cream colored trench coat with black skinny jeans. Leo, one of Anna's friends she met in high school when he was a sophomore. He is about her height and is built like a linebacker. He has short, black hair with a blonde streak through his bangs that fall over his green eyes. He wore was a blue windbreaker and a pair of blue jeans. Finally, Lizzie, an eighteen-year old is everyone's hero. She saved Kris' life in high school when she pushed her away from a speeding car. From that day on, everyone loved that girl. She had straight, brown hair that fell past her shoulders and a pair of brown eyes to boot. On this New Year's evening, she wore a purple parka with a faux fur hood and black jeans.

All nine young adults were gathered around Rose's fifty-five inch television the basement of her home, trying to pass the time until the glass ball dropped in Times Square. The group still had twenty minutes to waste until they could pop open the sparkling grape juice. Rose was standing next to Anna in their matching green turtlenecks and blue jeans. Rose grew her hair out until it reached her shoulders, while Anna kept her hair a little past her chin. Kale and Kris were nearby, munching down on the last of the caramel popcorn. Kale was wearing a blue hoodie and kaki cargo pants. His hair was in a fohawk now, instead of spikes. Kris was wearing a dark purple long sleeved shirt, a pale yellow scarf, and black slacks. She had braided her hair and it fell down to the middle of her back. Rose glanced at everyone in her basement and she began to smile. She was amusing herself watching Kayla, Leo, and Lizzie fail miserably at Guitar Hero: World Tour.

"You know what Anna?" Rose mused, "I miss those times when it was just you, me, Kale, and Kris playing around my front yard." She took a sip of a mountain dew she held in her hand.

"Ha, yeah I know what you mean, Rose." Anna sipped some Dr. Pepper.

"Yeah…" Rose trailed off and let her gaze drift to the floorboards of her basement. She sighed and a mix of uneasiness and sadness brushed past her heart. Anna noticed this subtle change in Rose and placed a gentle hand on her back.

"What is it?"

"I don't know. I just got one of those feelings all of a sudden. Something bad is going to happen soon." Rose shook her head and swallowed hard. "I guess I'm still nervous about that Mayan Calendar bull crap. I think everyone is. It's just my nerves getting the best of me." She gave Anna a faint-hearted smile. Anna swallowed and pressed her lips together. Ever since they were little children, Rose possessed what Anna had come to believe to be a "sixth sense". Every time before a disaster of some sort happened, Rose became closed in and depressed until the disaster passed.

"I know. I am too. Let's just hope things stay on track." Anna turned on the other thirty-inch television in Rose's basement. When the picture on the television flipped to life, Anna's heart dropped to her feet. Now she knew what Rose sensed. On the screen was live footage of Times Square. There were only fifteen minutes left until the New Year and Times Square was supposed to be packed with people. On the screen, Times Square was in ruins and bodies of people were strewn across the streets like fresh fish at a market. The buildings in the area were ablaze with raging infernos that were spreading uncontrollably across the city. The most disturbing part of this video was that there were thousands of four legged "dinosaurs" slashing at anything that moved. They wore simple, purple colored vests with eloquent, silver trimmings. All of them wore a silver helmet with Viking horns that covered the top halves of their slender snouts. The helmets had four eye slits in the glistening armor. Staring out of the slits were four burning red eyes that sought out the blood of all the humans in the area. Underneath their helmets were their jaws that were split into two halves. Their jaws were lines with razor sharp teeth capable of slicing through bone. They had two scaly arms with four long and bony fingers on each. On each hand, their index finger was a giant seven-inch hooked claw. The claw could bend all the way back and touch the forearm on each alien. The aliens' legs looked like black spider-legs with burgundy colored, feathered hooves of a Clydesdale horse. On their stubby lizard-like tails were five-foot long "whips" with dozens of hooked claws at the end of each tail. They ran in an awkward gait that looked like the creatures were hopping on all four legs to get around. But the way they skewered and gutted fleeing people made Anna and Rose sick to their stomachs.

"Oh my God…" Rose managed to squeak out. Anna turned to the others, and found out they were oblivious to what she and Rose were witnessing.

"Guys!" Anna sounded like she was about scream out of horror. "Look at the screen." Leo reluctantly paused Guitar Hero and was about to complain, until he saw the other television. Everyone else turned to see what Leo was staring at, and their eyes widened.

"Is—is this some kind of joke?" James exclaimed and grabbed the universal remote that was beside him. He turned up the volume on the smaller television.

"What you are seeing is not a hoax. This is real time footage of Times Square." The voice of one of the announcers on a local television station was trying his best to keep his voice steady. "These creatures have appeared all over Earth in giant ships at least ten minutes ago. By God, Earth is being invaded." The last line sent an invisible shockwave across the room. Everyone looked at each other in horror. Were the Mayans really right this entire time? The group of terrified friends jumped when the power in the house suddenly, shut off. Kayla, Lizzie, and Jessica screamed when the house went pitch black.

"Everyone outside now!" Rose yelled as she picked up the nearest object (a baseball bat) and herded everyone to the slider door that led to the woods in her backyard. Everyone else picked up the nearest object they could find. Fire pokers, brooms, two-by-fours, dumb bells, etc. They were all scared out of their wits but they knew that none of them were going to go down without a fight.

Outside, it seemed like hell itself split the Earth apart. Fire rained down on everything in the cul-de-sac and all the homes were at this point on fire. Three, fifty-foot long space ships with four laser cannons (that were half the ships length) occupied the skies above the cul-de-sac. Three cannons surrounded one central cannon and all, except the middle one were firing at a city in the distance. The massive ships were silver with yellow and purple accents on the wings and on the bodies. Not only did these ships have four, thirty-two-foot long wings, on them were six joints with two, seventeen-foot long mechanical "feathers" on each hinge. The feathers could adjust the altitude of each ship depending if they were angled up or angled down. In front of the wings were tinted glass domes of some sort. Everywhere else on the ships was dozens of turrets. Each ship had a command deck positioned in front of the three, powerful thrusters. The command decks looked like sideways crescent moons. For a moment, the nine friends admired the massive ships, until some of the turrets underneath the closest one fired at the woods in front of them. Pieces of burnt bark and charred branches flew everywhere and soon enough, the woods where the humans were about to escape through, was on fire.

Rose shouted for everyone to follow her as she sprinted alongside her home. The others followed with a new spring in their steps when they witnessed the domes on every ship slide open. Hundreds of flying creatures spilled into the night sky with the same four legged dinosaurs they saw on the television, riding their backs. The flying creatures had shaggy fur all over their bodies except on their four, leathery wings. Their fur varied in shades of black, brown, burgundy, gold, and silver. Despite having different colored fur, their dragon-like wings stayed black a night. On their heads were silver helmets with four eye slits that shielded the top halves of their broad heads. On said helmets were sets of huge ram-like horns behind another pair of stubby horns. Underneath their ram horns were flat wedges that helped the creatures fly steadier so their riders could shoot at their enemies a bit easier. Their mouths, just like their riders were split into two, and could rip the limbs off of their victims. Each winged creature also had six hairy legs with two, broad, sharp claws as their feet. Finally, each monstrosity had lengthy, serrated whips at the ends of their hairy tails.

Their riders were equipped with blasters, eloquent long swords, or a spear that could fire its arrowhead at its enemies over thirty-feet away. Several flying creatures flew over the group of fleeing humans and began to attack. Rose swung her bat at one of the creatures that came down and tried to grab her with its six legs. She swung a little too early and instead of hitting the flying monster on its head, she ended up hitting it on its exposed lower jaws. She broke both of its jaws in one hit and the creature screamed in pain as it crashed to the ground. The creature crushed its rider when it began to roll around in agony on the ground. Leo and James had fire pokers in their hands and they were slashing and stabbing at the wings and underbellies of the creatures as they flew overhead. They managed to injure three of them but they were still able to fly. Their riders were not pleased at all, and they fired their blasters at the two males. The two were dead before they hit the ground.

"No!" Kayla and Kris screamed at the bodies of their friends. Lizzie grabbed one of the pokers on the run and threw it with all of her might at the nearest monster's head. The fire poker impaled the creature's heart, and dropped dead on the ground. Its rider was pinned beneath the behemoth, and was unable to defend itself when Lizzie ran up to the dead monster. She pulled out the fire poker and started to stab relentlessly at the four legged dinosaur. Anna tried to pull her away from the aliens but she was too late. Lizzie was snatched by the only black furred flyer chasing the group. She screamed death threats and every kind of profanity at the attackers for killing her boyfriend, Leo. Then, the monster released her and Lizzie plummeted to the asphalt road below her. Her screams of anger and pain were silenced forever. Kris was petrified as she stared at Lizzie's body sprawled out on the road. Kris was so focused on the person that saved her life so long ago; she failed to notice that another winged creature with golden fur was racing towards her. Kayla shoved her sister out of the way in the nick of time. Kayla screamed as she was taken away by the monster. Kris snapped back to reality and began to cry as she witnessed her younger sister being taken aboard the nearest ship. Kris tried to run towards the ship but Anna grabbed her from her waist and threw her grieving friend over her shoulders. Kris pounded her back with her fists, but Anna ignored her beating and continued to follow Rose. Kale and Jessica joined up with the others as they made another mad dash to escape Earth's invaders.

Rose led the group around to the front of her home and shouted for them to duck behind the stone wall that barricaded her front porch. Anna threw Kris unceremoniously over the three-foot wall and dove over after her. Kale and Jessica leapt over as well just as a few of the riders began to fire at them. Laser fire peppered the ground in front of the wall where the two stood moments before as they flew past. Unfortunately, Jessica did not move fast enough. Two rounds went straight through her legs. She fell backwards on the ground before Kale could grab her. She grabbed her legs as she squirmed around on the ground in pain. She tried to sit up, but before she could, another flyer with spear in hand, swooped down and shot it at her. The serrated tip zipped through the air as fast as a bullet and sliced clean through Jessica's heart. She let out her final breath as she slumped back onto the frozen ground.

"Jessica! No!" Rose cried out as she peeked over the stony wall.

"Shit!" Kale dropped down to his knees behind the wall. He shut his eye lids together to hold back the tears. "Rose! What are we going to do now?" Kale pulled Anna next to him when a stray laser tore up the ground right next to her head. Rose flattened her body on the ground when a shell from one of the turrets on the ship overhead exploded in her front yard. Frozen soil rained down on the remaining four humans. Rose shot Kale a look he has never seen before: Fear. Kale blinked and glanced at Anna and Kris. They looked at each other and ducked when another shell shredded Rose's front yard. Anna grabbed Kale's and Kris's hands.

"Together forever…" She mumbled to herself. A single tear ran down her cheek. One of the flyers with burgundy colored fur hovered over the group and its rider screeched out in victory. It aimed its blaster at the smaller group of three and charged up a blast. Rose scrambled to her feet and ran in front of her friends. She held out her arms and screamed at the alien.

"No!"

The alien fired.

Rose's mind flooded with her childhood memories of the three behind her. She closed her eyes as she remembered playing with all of them, never having a care in the world. As her final thought, she could not have asked for a better ending than being with her three best friends. Rose waited for the blast to kill her—but nothing happened. She opened her eyes to see if the alien was still charging his weapon, or by some miracle the weapon jammed. What she saw was nothing of the sort. An athletic man had landed in front of her and his right fist was extended out. It was on _fire_. His fiery punch made the laser blast explode. Rose took her time studying the man who had just saved her and her friends' lives. He wore a cobalt blue, body forming flight suit. The top of his flashy flight suit was buttoned up to his neck. On his arms were bronze colored gauntlets that reached to his white gloves. He also wore golden plated boots with falcons engraved on each shin guard. On his right shoulder was a single dull, silver pauldron. Tied around the collar of his neck was a tattered, yellow scarf. Around his waist was a leather belt that held a light brown holster in place on his waist. The holster protected a silver plated pistol. Finally, sitting on top of his head was a red helmet with a golden, falcon-like chevron. Attached to the helmet was a tinted visor that had white triangles where the man's eyes were supposed to be. Rose did not have the slightest notion as to why he appeared when he did, but she was grateful he believed she and her friends were worth saving.

"Little miss, if I were you, I'd take a few steps back." The mysterious man told her in a slight southern accent. Rose nodded and she retreated to her friends. The four watched in awe as the man sprung up and over the winged creature. The alien rider tracked the man and roared at him. He pulled the fur on his animal and it whipped around and flew up towards the man. He smiled as he flipped over and kicked his legs down onto the flying creature's head. The force of his kick bent the monster's metal helmet into the shape of his feet. The creature blacked out and crashed landed head first on the icy ground below. Its rider was thrown off from its back, and it watched helplessly as the man kicked out his right foot. His leg was engulfed in red flames as he closed in on his victim.

"Falcon kick!" The man yelled as his foot planted on the four-legged alien's face. The fire melted through the alien's helmet and its head. The man kicked off from the alien's corpse. He performed a back flip in midair, and landed on the stony wall. The man poised himself in a defensive stance and flicked his hand towards him, a taunt that effectively aggravated the other aliens flying in the air. "Come on, is that all you got?" The man challenged. The remaining creatures all dove at the man. He smirked as he balled his fists. As the creatures were about to crash into him, he roared out a battle cry, and both of his fists were suddenly engulfed in flames, "Falcon PUNCH!" When he fired both of his fists at his attackers, the fire combined into one massive, swirling mass of flames and formed the shape of a flying bird. His punches killed the flying creatures on contact as their skulls shattered and melted at the same time. The force of the punches sent the creatures tumbling backwards through the air. They crashed through the house on the opposite side of the street and brought it down on top of them. The man seemed to flinch when the house fell. "Whoops, a little too much kick on that last one." He quickly recovered and faced the astonished young adults.

"My name's Captain Falcon and by the looks on your faces, I'm assuming you've never seen a flare of life in action before." The humans just started confoundedly at the Captain, unsure of what a "flare of life" was. He smirked as he snapped his fingers together. "Believe it or not, you four are flares yourselves!" The four were even more puzzled at this statement, but their puzzlement was replaced by amazement when a massive, purple-and-gold ship –news flash! Another falcon! - landed in Rose's front yard. "Now you folks have two options right now," one of the four-legged aliens clambered over his ship. The Captain did not seem to notice as he continued, "You either come with me in my ship, the _Falcon Flyer_," the alien appeared to be injured but it held a blaster rifle in between its legs. Anna noticed one of the spears they used was lying a few feet away from her, "or you can sit here behind your wall and wait to be killed." Anna dashed for the spear. "Hey! What do you think you're doing, lady!" The Captain ran towards Anna to stop her, thinking she was going to use the spear on him. Anna grabbed the spear and shouldered past the Captain. She aimed the spear at the alien.

"You bastards! Get off our planet!" The spear Anna held began to spark with blue electricity. Then, blue fire flowed out from Anna's fingers and engulfed the shaft of the weapon. Anna looked down at the spear in amazement. "Awesome." She whispered to herself. She looked up at the alien and affixed an impish leer on it. The alien saw this and attempted to fire his weapon at the female. No luck. No ammunition. No second chance. Anna's leer grew into a malicious smile. "Not today pal. You die!" She thrust the spear forward and the blue fire on the shaft rocketed towards the alien like a lion attacking its prey. It tried to get away, but the raging flames were too fast. It passed through the alien, disintegrating it on contact. Anna dropped the spear and the blue fire dissolved into nothing. She brought her hands to her face and looked them over. "How did I do that?" She asked mainly to herself. The Captain walked up behind her and placed a strong hand around her shoulder. She looked up to a great big smile.

"That was Potential Power or better known as Flares of Life. You've just scratched that power inside of you, and just like me, the power of fire is yours to command." He clenched his fist and orange flames blanketed his fist. Anna stared at the spectacle and then looked at her own hands. She clenched her fists and felt a great tingling sensation flow to her hands. She opened them and sitting neatly in her palms were dancing blue flames. She smiled and looked back at the Captain. He started to laugh. "Looks like you're a fast learner little lady. If you come with me, all of you can find out what sort of Flare has kicked back inside of you." The Captain jumped up to the top of his ship and folded his arms across his chest. "Well, what's the verdict?" The four friends looked at each other. Anna looked at Rose and began to walk towards the _Falcon Flyer_. She looked up at the man with a determined face.

"Captain, count me in." The Captain smirked and looked at the others expectantly. Rose sighed and caught up with Anna.

"I can't let you do that, Anna." Anna shot Rose a look of complete disbelief, but Rose smiled at her. "I can't let you go by yourself." Kale joined Anna on her other side and smiled at her.

"Count me in too. Wherever you go, I go too." Kris appeared next to Kale but she kept a straight face.

"I'm coming to get my sister back. If I need to find out what this Flare thingy is, I don't care. I just want my sister back."

"It's settled then." The Captain disappeared inside of his ship and moments later, a hatch opened on the _Falcon Flyer_. The Captain was standing in the entrance with a lopsided grin plastered on his face. "Just don't touch anything, okay?" The four humans dashed on board and were surprised to see that inside the _Falcon Flyer_ had a bland, dimly lit interior with three prison cells on the far side of the entrance. Security lasers were positioned on the ceiling and on the walls next to the entrance. The four began to fear the Captain had just hoodwinked them to come on board. The Captain noticed their fearful looks, and waved his hands in front of him. "Now don't go thinking you're going to be held up in those!" The Captain laughed nervously. "You four will get first class seats." He motioned them to follow him through a pair of automatic doors leading to the front of his space craft. The four exchanged wary looks and then looked at Rose. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"We might as well go inside. I mean, what other choice do we have at this point?" The others nodded and followed Rose through the doors. On the other side was an area filled with super high-tech equipment. The room had dozens of monitors lining the walls around the new room. On said monitors were energy readings, engine status, life support systems, shield readings, and other miscellaneous charts and maps. In the center of the room was a command desk of some sort with a "U" Shaped steering wheel sitting in front of a floating, leather chair. The keyboard in front of the chair had a couple of floating grids and menus over it. The Captain had already sat himself in his chair. He swiveled around to greet the humans with his trademark smirk.

"Hurry up and strap in. I just picked up a dozen more of those flying animals heading our way." The humans nodded and ran past the command desk to the six chairs lining the walls of the _Falcon Flyer_. There were three on each side. Kris and Rose buckled themselves in on one side while Kale and Anna strapped themselves in on the opposite wall. The Captain typed furiously on the panel in front of him and then grabbed the wheel in front of his face. "Brace yourselves!" The Captain snapped the wheel forward and the _Falcon Flyer _came to life. The spacecraft rocketed forward and in a matter of seconds, the ship was circling over the decimated cul-de-sac. The biggest screen in the ship was located at the very front of the room and it had a detailed, three-dimensional map of the surrounding area, including the giant space ships—and the twelve flying monster that were giving chase. The Captain tried to shake his pursuers off his tail by flying up and into the clouds drifting overhead. The flying creatures hesitated at first but their riders forced them to pursue their prey. One by one they all disappeared into the clouds and were flying blind. The animals were having a difficult time trying to see through the puffy fog of condensation and soon enough, they began to panic. The animals began to fly aimlessly inside the clouds trying to find a way to escape the white puffball of doom. A few of the animals crashed into each other and when they did, their riders lost their balance and tumbled off, never to be seen again.

The Captain laughed lightheartedly as he watched the spectacle unravel on the monitors inside his ship. "What a bunch of brainless punks! You'd think those riders would know the first rule about flying," more riders were seen freefalling in the sky, "Never fly through clouds!" The Captain scoffed and piloted his ship towards space. Kale felt a pang of sadness tear through his heart when the realization finally hit him.

"Are we leaving Earth, Captain?" Kale asked as he noticed one of the monitors indicate the _Falcon Flyer_ had broken through Earth's atmosphere. The Captain took a moment to find the correct words to say to the four humans. Here he was taking these humans off their besieged planet that will most likely be lost to the enemy. How was he going to explain that they needed to be saved while the rest of their planet dies? These four were just now forced to leave everything they have ever known back on Earth. He could only begin to imagine what kind of trauma it must be like having everything in your life being stripped away at once. Expecting them to understand their importance was not going to happen.

"_Balls_." The Captain thought. "Yes sir, we are but I don't expect you to enjoy the ride anytime soon." Kale returned his gaze to his feet.

"What's wrong with you, Kale? Aren't you happy we're still freaking _alive_?" Anna harshly spat at him. He remained silent. She huffed and folded her arms. "You know what Kale; you have the backbone of a jellyfish! Where's your sense of gratitude? I mean, for God's sake, Captain Falcon just saved our _lives_! What do you want, the sun to stop shining? Face it Kale, Earth is _gone_. We have no other place to go, and the Captain here is probably going help us get back on our feet!" Rose and Kris began to listen to Anna Rant. The Captain was also intrigued as to what the lady had to say. "We've lost a lot already: Leo, James, Lizzie—Kayla," Kris turned away from Anna when she mentioned her sister's name. "Our families are probably all dead, and everything we've worked for has been for nothing now." Silence echoed through the walls of the ship. "But, there is one thing we still have; we still have each other. As long we stick together from here on out, we're golden." The Captain silently cheered for Anna. He had a feeling he was going to enjoy working with her in the near future.

"She's right." Rose chimed in, "If we give up now and feel sorry for ourselves, everyone that has died before us will have died in vain. Do any of you want that?" Silence. "I Didn't think so. So, whatever the Captain has in store for us, we should embrace it with open arms. Few people get second chances, but no one gets thirds." The other three humans nodded silently. "Captain?" Rose turned to face the man piloting the ship.

"What is it, miss?"

"First off, my name isn't _miss_, it's Rose." Rose emphasized miss in a less-than-friendly tone.

"Won't happen again, Rose." The Captain smirked at her. Rose nodded in appreciation and continued.

"Where are you taking us anyways?" The Captain pressed a button on the blinking control panel in front of him and a view port slid open like a pair of doors at the bow of the ship. What the young adults gazed upon was something taken straight from a science-fiction movie. A fleet of space cruisers that looked like yachts with cannons filled the viewport. There were two massive railguns fixated on the bows of the ships. Underneath the weapons were dozens of cannons and flak guns ready to defend the ships if anything hostile dared to venture in their vicinity. On every ship there were four massive wings shaped like flattened hooks. Near the bow of the cruisers were command decks that were built as if a serpent's heads were sticking out of the grass. Each deck had four cannons attached to them: Two on top and one each on the port and starboard sides of the decks. Behind the command decks where three spires that were heavily armed as well. Propelling the titan ships were six plasma thrusters in the rear. Painted on the middle of each of the hulls were bolded, yellow letters that spelled out, "U.A.G." Next to the acronym was an insignia: A red circle with a black, off centered, sideways cross. Underneath the acronyms and the symbols were the phrases, "The United Alliances of The Galaxy". Underneath those were the types of classes, the serial numbers, and the names of each cruiser. The ship Captain Falcon was heading towards was named _Verdant_.

The humans were preoccupied studying the massive ship to notice that the Captain was guiding his craft into the one of the rear docking bay labeled, "F-35". Inside of the Verdant there were hundreds of soldiers clad in black body armor scurrying around carrying out dozens of tasks at once. Grey containers and racks filled to the brim with weapons littered the area surrounding the _Falcon Flyer_. Other ships could be seen inside the other docking bays as well, but the humans paid them no mind. What interested them were the three beings waiting on the other side of the docking platform. One looked like a Fox with green eyes dressed in a dark green flight suit. He wore an unzipped, grey jacket over his suit, and around his neck was a red scarf. He also had some sort futuristic headset on but he did not appear to be using it. Standing next to the humanoid animal was a swordsman in tattered clothes that looked like he game straight from the medieval era. He had a red cape that was ripped and torn, as well as a black bandana that looked like it had been torn off a piece of clothing. The swordsman wore a royal blue tunic with yellow trim, and a pair of white pants. He had short, spiky hair and blue eyes. Over his left shoulder was a golden long sword with a black cross as a handle. Finally, standing next the swordsman was taller person in an orange and red body suit. The left arm on this individual was formatted into an arm cannon. The orange shoulder armor on this particular suit was the same size as the red helmet this individual wore. The figure placed their hand on their hip—a sign of impatience. The humans silently agreed that the armored figure had to be a female, or a really flamboyant male.

"That crazy lady really needs to learn some patience one of these days…" The Captain muttered to himself as he noticed the armored figure's stance.

"Sorry to ask, but who are they, and why is one of them a _fox_?" Anna skeptically asked the Captain.

"You'll see soon enough, miss."

"Anna."

"Anna. Right. I'll remember that." The Captain mumbled to himself. He led the humans out his ship to the three different beings waiting for him.

"Glad to see you made it in once piece, Falcon. For a second there I thought you were going to need some help—again." The fox jokingly remarked.

"Last time I had a giant metal monster knocking my ship around in a tunnel, Fox. That's a different story." He shook hands with the fox and patted his shoulders. "Those pipsqueaks couldn't keep it together in a little cloud." The two laughed.

"Are _these_ the flares?" He stuck his face right in Anna's and frowned. "Humph, I was expecting something with a little more—muscle." She glared at the swordsman and flipped him off. He frowned and backed away from her space. The armored figure clocked the swordsman on the back of his head with her cannon when he retreated from Anna. He stumbled forward and shot the warrior a vengeful look. "What was that for, Samus?" She hit him again, this time on the top of his head—_hard_. The sword wielding man unwillingly greeted the metallic floor.

"For being an uncharismatic asshole. You had it coming, Ike." Her voice sounded slightly metallic through her helmet. The woman averted her gaze from the twitching figure on the floor. Fox and Captain Falcon laughed timidly at their friend. He scowled at them and rubbed his head, already feeling a goose egg. "So, what are your names? Starting with you." She pointed at Anna.

"My name's Anna." She smirked at Samus.

"I'm Rose." She bowed her head at her.

"My name's Kale." He waved half-heartedly at the woman.

"And I'm Kriss." She forced out a tight smile.

"My name is Samus. It's nice to meet all of you. You're lucky Falcon here found you when he did." The humans shifted uncomfortably. Samus continued anyways, "You've already met Captain Falcon." The Captain saluted the four humans. "His name is Fox." The animal nodded his head at the four. "This worthless pile of scum," the blue-haired man tried to push himself off the floor, but Samus shoved him back down with one of her feet, "is named Ike." Anna snickered at Ike and he shot her an icy stare. She reciprocated the stare.

"You four follow me." Samus walked off and the humans followed anxiously behind her. Fox followed behind the group while Captain Falcon and Ike remained behind.

"I thought you learned your lesson last time you shot your mouth off like that. I guess not." The Captain extended a hand out to Ike.

"She needs to get attacked by that flying dinosaur thing again. That'll calm her down." He grasped his hand and pulled himself up.

"I'm sure you mean it. C'mon, let's go see what the general's orders are." He started to amble off before Ike had the chance to object.

"The general? What general?" Ike protested as he caught up with the bounty hunter.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** To be honest, I'm having a lot of fun with this story. :3

Also, REFERENCE GALORE!

Hope all of you are enjoying this so far. Just to clarify, this takes place AFTER the events of the Subspace Emissary. X)

Next chapter will include our favorite puffball—with wings! ;)


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